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California narrowly avoided cutting off electricity to part of the state yesterday as power reserves fell below critical levels. Rolling blackouts across the state may still be necessary in the near future. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports on how the electricity grid choreographs these rolling blackouts.

NPR Film Critic Bob Mondello says he's trying hard to keep Hollywood titles straight in his mind this year.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that a panel of Swedish and Russian historians today released the conclusions of a ten-year study on the fate of Raoul Wallenberg. He was the Swedish diplomat credited with saving thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Budapest. He was later arrested by Soviet forces who captured Hungary from the Germans. The Swedish authors of the new study conclude that there is no hard evidence that Wallenberg died in the Soviet Union in 1947, as the Russians assert. The report questions whether Sweden did all it could to secure Wallenberg's release.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports that the second most senior figure in Hong Kong's government has resigned. Anson Chan was appointed by the outgoing British administration, before Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997. She was known as a ardent supporter of democracy and civil liberties. However, she denies she left her post because of any disagreement with the Beijing-appointed chief executive of Hong Kong.

Later this month and new online service called Questia will debut. It will provide a library containing 50,000 volumes of literature, scholarly journals and texts. The company hopes to eventually reach 250,000 volumes in the next three years. Questia is targeted mostly to students and will allow them to cross-reference, footnote and do a bibliography all online. Robert talks with Troy Williams, the CEO and President of Questia Media, about the new company and what it has taken to get started.

Western governors are meeting in Sacramento today to work out a deal on energy transfers to California. The state continues to struggle for a solution to its energy crisis as they deal with critically low power reserves and nearly bankrupt utility companies. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

Noah talks with James G. Wright, Assistant Metro Editor for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, about aluminum plants on the West Coast, which have discovered they can make more money by shutting down production and reselling the electricity they bought from the Bonneville Power Authority in Washington State. Wright says this is because they locked in the price of electricity with the B.P.A. years ago when natural gas was very cheap. Their contracts allow them to resell the electricity back to B.P.A.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on President Clinton's last economic report to Congress, which he sent to Capitol Hill today. The president rejected fears that a recession is coming. Speaking to reporters at the White House today, he said he hopes the Bush administration and Congress will work to pay off the national debt and will resist big tax cuts or spending increases.

Bob Garfield, co-host of NPR's On The Media, examines why the news media are so smitten with Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan.

Robert talks to Adam Eidinger, an organizer with the Justice Action Movement, which will be taking part in protests against the inauguration of George W. Bush. Justice Action Network has been a part of large protests around the country against the World Trade Organization and World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Eidinger supported Ralph Nader in the November presidential election, and believes Bush's presidency is illegitimate.

Mona Simpson is the author of three, large sprawling novels, one of which, Anywhere But Here, found its way to the movie screen. Her new book, Off Keck Road, is a slender novel that our reviewer Alan Cheuse says has reach beyond its length. (1:45) Off Keck Road, is published by Knopf.

Environmental groups opposed to the nomination of Gale Norton as Interior secretary joined their voices in protest today. They say Norton, the former attorney general of Colorado, expounds theories of land use well outside the mainstream of contemporary legal thinking. But Norton has the backing of conservatives who say she simply follows a strict interpretation of the Constitution and the intent of the founding fathers. NPR's David Welna reports.

President-elect George W. Bush will be inaugurated a week from tomorrow, and the city of Washington is getting ready for a larger number of protests than is usual. Robert speaks with Terrence Gainer, Deputy Chief of Police for Washington D.C. about the preparations.

Bob Edwards talks with Andy Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, about a new survey on American attitudes as a new president takes office.

NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Boston on a series of allegations that prison guards in Massachusetts have systematically brutalized inmates. Generally, it's hard for prison inmates to substantiate their complaints of physical abuse by guards. And watchdog groups and journalists usually can't get access to prisons or documents.

NPR's Shirley Jahad reports on the hopeful reaction of the religious right to the latest cabinet nominations of President-elect George W. Bush.

Host Bob Edwards talks to NPR's Peter Overby about the Justice Department announcement last night that Indonesian financier James Riady will plead guilty to making illegal contributions to the Democratic Party and pay an eight-point-six million dollar fine. Riady will admit to a felony charge that he used corporate funds from his foreign company to reimburse contributors to the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign. Foreign campaign contributions are illegal under US law.

Commentator Kelly Beatty says we all should look to the skies for one last glimpse of the Russian Space Station, Mir which is being retired after over a decade in space.

More than two months after the election, TV news networks are still trying to figure out why they made so many mistakes in reporting the results. NPR's Lynn Neary looks at how the networks are trying to improve their coverage.

NPR's John McChesney reports the Justice Department today told a Federal Appeals court that the federal judge who ordered the breakup of the big software maker had made the right decision and that, contrary to Microsoft's accusations, the judge in the case was not biased.

Near the end of World War Two, the U.S.S. Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine, beginning a harrowing four-and-a-half day experience for the crew. As they waited for rescue, many of them were eaten by sharks. The ship's captain was later court martialed. But the crew felt the captain was unfairly accused. After fifty five years, Congress restored his honor. Noah Adams talks with Peter Maas, author of the forward to Abandon Ship: The Saga of the U.S.S.Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster, by Richard F. Newcomb, which has just been reissued. (8:00) Abandon Ship: The Saga of the U.S.S.Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster, by Richard F. Newcomb, is published by Harper Collins, December 2000. Maas is also author of The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History, a Harper Mass Market Paperback, published August 2000.

The report warns of serious risk from aging dams and levees, many of which are more than 50 years old.

Today, a special joint session of the US Congress was held to certify the electoral college votes for President and Vice President. Vice President Al Gore presided over the session that announced George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as the winners of the election. Host Lisa Simeone talks about the proceeding with NPR's David Welna, where members of the Congressional Black Congress raised objections and ultimately walked out of the session in protest of uncounted popular votes in the state of Florida.

Rolando Arrieta reports on the first Latino crossover hit of the rock'n'roll era, a song based on a Mexican folk song.

Noah travels to the coast of Maine, near Mount Desert Island, for a lesson in how the nation gets much of its fresh fish. He talks with Des Fitzgerald, the head of a salmon farming company called Atlantic Salmon of Maine. The fish are raised inland at a hatchery and then are put in tanks and are transported to ocean pens. Noah also talks with a group of people from Blue Hill, Maine, who are opposed to salmon farming and to having salmon pens in Blue Hill Bay. Salmon farming is a growing industry in Maine - but it's a much bigger industry in Iceland, Chile, Norway and Scotland. Most of the salmon Americans eat now are farm raised, not wild.